A Brief History of Markham, Ontario

Markham was founded by William Moll Berczy in 1794 when he negotiated 64 000 acres of land from John Simcoe, the current governor of Upper Canada. The land was for 64 German families from both Germany and Pennsylvania. The original families that he had brought over had unfortunately suffered a dispute over finances and land tenure. Meaning that they had to find another place to live. Most of them moved closer to the downtown area, some where you can now find downtown Toronto condos.

The Town of Markhams roots were almost strictly agricultural until the area was linked by railroad, and eventually telegraph, and telephone. Once this had occurred the town of Markham had a spurt of rapid development and quickly grew in size. However, after a time the ability to purchase items and goods from the nearby city of Toronto slowed and eventually reversed Markham's development and it reverted to an agricultural area.

During World War II the Markham saw rapid industrialization to help with the war effort, and after the war Markham experienced a baby boom of incredible proportions. The area quickly grew into a Town and attracted lots of immigrants and displaced persons.

Currently though, Markham is generally accepted as a suburb of Toronto, even though it has a stable separate economy and is technically not part of the City of Toronto but is part of its census area.

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